By: Nia Shanks
“I’m not getting the results I expected and that I think I should be seeing.”
“Are you working hard on each exercise? Are you using a challenging load and constantly improving your performance?”
“Yep. I don’t know what’s wrong. I’ve been following the program as written without any changes.”
We were walking towards the free weight area of the gym to begin our
workouts. I started my warm-up and she began her first exercise –
barbell back squats.
As I was doing weighted push-ups and inverted rows, she
kept squatting away. Between my sets I’d watch her squat; her form
looked excellent but she appeared to still be warming up.
After I completed all of my sets for push-ups and rows, I noticed her stripping off the weight plates.
“Are you done squatting?” I asked curiously.
“Yep. All done with squats. I did 4×6 today.”
“Ummm. I think I know why you’re not getting the results you’re after.” She
gave me a puzzled look and I continued. “All of your ’work sets’ looked
like nothing more than a warm-up. The weight definitely wasn’t
challenging because I noticed your eyes wondering during each set so you
definitely weren’t focused, and it looked like you could’ve done at
least 10 or more reps on every set.”
“But . . . I’m doing it.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not doing it optimally. And that’s why you’re not getting results.”
We proceeded to put more weight on the bar and she slowly worked up to a heavier set. She ended up with 20 more pounds on the bar then she had on her final set of squats a few minutes earlier.
I stood by as she did 6 reps with the new, heavier, more challenging
work weight. And still with picture perfect form on every rep.
After she completed the set and racked the bar, she stood silent.
Finally she spoke, ”Wow. I can definitely tell the difference. I
actually had to focus on every single rep. I didn’t know I was that
strong either!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea I could squat that much.”
I’ve witnessed this over and over throughout my strength training career. And it’s costing people results.
That’s the one super simple
tweak that will give you better results – make sure you’re using a
challenging weight for your exercises. Don’t use a weight for 6 reps that you could easily do for 12 or more. (Note – exceptions include deloads and explosive exercises).
Always make sure you’re using proper form on every single rep, but be sure to challenge
yourself. You should have to focus intently on the task at hand. You
should have to work hard. Over time, you should be doing more reps with
the same weight, adding weight to the bar, or in the case of bodyweight
exercises — doing a more challenging variation.
Don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and
challenge yourself (just be safe, of course). You’ll see, and feel, the
difference.
If want a structured, detailed workout that will challenge you and ultimately allow you to build the body you want, click HERE Now to
find the best workout for you depending on your personal goals (fat
loss, sculpt sexy muscle, get stronger, or just look absolutely
awesome).
Friday, January 18, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
What Causes Cellutlite and How To Fix It
by Jade Teta ND, CSCS
What is cellulite?
The two most frequent topics we get asked about are belly fat and lower body fat (specifically What Causes Cellulite).
In this blog I want to attack the issue of lower body fat and address the “what causes cellulite and getting rid of cellulite” issue particularly. I can’t tell you how often I have been asked this question in how many different ways: What causes cellulite? How do you get rid of cellulite? And is it even possible to get rid of cellulite?
Cellulite is really the combination of two factors, fat and collagen fibers. The problem is that this fat and collagen is a little different than the fat and collagen found on a man’s body and even different than fat found on different areas of the female physique.
What causes cellulite?
Compared to men, women have collagen fibers in their lower body that run vertically up and down like a picket fence. This straight up and down distribution of collagen fibers is the major reason females get cellulite and men don’t. (estimates are 90% of women have some degree of cellulite compared to 10% of men). The superficial collagen of men forms more of a mesh. If women have the picket fence distribution of collagen, men have the “chain link fence” distribution. Where women’s fibers run up and down, male fibers crisscross.
Get rid of cellulite
One of the things many women wonder is how come some women have cellulite and others don’t? And how come some overweight women don’t have as much cellulite as some skinny women? These are great questions and underscore the need to move beyond the simple fat loss models many experts cling to. Cellulite is not just an issue of gaining fat or losing fat, it is an issue of doing something to address both fat loss and collagen strength and health.
The reason some women get cellulite and some women don’t has a ton to do with genetics. Some women have collagen fibers that are more like a man’s (a picket fence & chain link hybrid), and some have extreme versions of the vertical distribution. So, getting rid of cellulite is perfectly possible for some women and far more difficult for others. However, no matter the genetic luck of the draw, the appearance of cellulite can always be improved upon.
There are ways to address the collagen issue, but none of them are very good. I will get to that in a minute. First, lets talk about the other aspect of cellulite, the fat.
Female lower body fat
The fat in the lower body of women is also different than that in men. Women have about 9 times more alpha-adrenergic receptors associated with their fat tissue compared to beta-adrenergic receptors. Adrenergic receptors are bound by the body’s most potent fat burning hormones catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline for our UK peeps and epinephrine and norepinephrine for us here in the US).
When the catecholamines interact with beta-receptors fat is released from fat cells. When they bind to alpha-receptors fat release is drastically slowed. I know I may be losing the non-science folks, so just think B for beta=burn and A for alpha=anti-burn.
You can thank the hormone estrogen for the large amount of alpha-receptors in the lower body of women compared to men. Interestingly, the study of transgender populations, those undergoing hormone therapy to transition from female to more male like, or from male to more female like, has taught us a ton about hormones and their impact on where we store fat. Studies, and working clinically with these populations give us the first hints of the female hormones and how they impact where fat is stored. Males undergoing heavy estrogen and progesterone therapy will see increased fat deposition around the lower body and yes, increased prevalence of cellulite as well.
What this means for women is that when they lose weight they will often lose weight faster from the upper body (bust, waist and arms) compared to the lower body (hips, thighs and butt). If you or anyone you know has ever gone into one of those marathon running programs and realized they were losing every where except their hips and butt, you know exactly what I am talking about.
A few other things
That is the double whammy of cellulite. Vertical collagen fibers combined with a tendency to store fat primarily in the lower body and a more difficult time losing it is what causes cellulite.
But, that is not the end of the story because another prevalent aspect of the fat tissue in the lower body for women (also in the love handles of men) is the issue of blood flow. This fat is relatively hypoxic, which means it is starving for oxygen. This is because the prevalence of alpha-receptors along with the poor blood vessel perfusion means it does not get as much blood supply. This is in contrast to the very oxygen satisfied belly fat (one of the reason why middle belly fat is often the first thing to go in weight loss programs in both men and women).
The other issue is that there is pretty much a direct association of muscle with its fascial lining (the connective tissue sheath that lines muscle) and the collagen tissue in the skin. This means that well developed muscles have the ability to impact the tightness and tone of the connective tissue in the skin. This is one of the reasons weight lifting tightens the body even when weight is not lost. When you think cellulite exercises, think weight training.
The fix
Now the question is how to get rid of cellulite or how to reduce cellulite? Can you “burn cellulite”? Well, sort of. You can certainly burn the fat part of it, but that is only part of the issue, as any skinny girl who has suffered from cellulite will tell you. The collagen issue is much more tricky and controversial.
The truth of the matter is to get rid of cellulite really takes a more nuanced approach than just losing lower body fat. And, I am going to be honest with you, it is not easy. What I can say with certainty is that even those with the worst cellulite can substantially reduce its appearance. I address this in my clinic with what I call the 4 F’s (fat, fibers, flow, and firm)
- Fat. Burn the fat.
At the same time there are two very good supplements I use in my clinic that have mechanisms of action similar to the catecholamines (for the science nerds they turn on the intracellular activity of cyclic AMP, the same thing catecholamines do when they bind the adrenergic receptors). They basically allow us to bypass the adrenergic receptors all together and avoid activating the alpha receptors in the first place. These are green tea extract (I use a 50% EGCG standardized product) and coleus forskohli (standardized to 20% forskolin). Keep in mind these supplements will do little unless the carbohydrate intake of the diet is low.
There are also a few herb derived compounds that will directly block apha-adrenergic receptors. These include yohimbine, epinephrine and berberine. Again, the major caveat here is: THESE SUPPLEMENTS DO NOT WORK OUTSIDE OF A LOW INSULIN ENVIRONMENT!! I tell you that because insulin is a far more powerful promoter and controller of the adrenergic receptors than any supplement. So to work they need to be taken under a low carb state. We have our own protocol on how we manage this, which I am not going to take the time to go into here. I will give you one clinical pearl though. Keeping total carb intake under 100g for the day and exercising on an empty stomach using a mix of intervals, then weights and then following it with a long slow cardio session, like walking, is what delivers our best results.
- Fibers.
Clinically, some women swear by this, but given they were doing all the other things described here, the fact that I don’t yet have enough clinical evidence to say either way AND the fact that there is no research at all suggesting it works, makes this an unknown. One thing to note, pretty much any massage type treatment will reduce the appearance of cellulite for a short time given the ability of massage to move lymph and increase blood flow. This is constantly reported by the women we see in our clinic. We explain this as a temporary fluid distribution shift out of the subcutaneous tissue. It is believed fluid, like fat, accumulates in the collagen pockets and can increase the dimpling effect. So, removing this fluid may decrease the appearance of dimpling and puckering. Knowing this is comforting to women who want a quick solution to decreasing the appearance of their cellulite. It is a short-lived effect however.
- Flow.
- Firm.
So, that’s it. Everything you wanted to know about getting rid of cellulite. I realize this is a lot and a bit technical at times, but hopefully it gives you some things to think about. Real quick here are the most important points in bullets:
- What causes cellulite? Cellulite is more than a fat issue it is a fat and a fiber issue
- Women get cellulite more than men because of the vertical distribution of their collagen fibers
- The dimpling and puckering that occurs in cellulite comes form the buildup of fat and fluid in these “collagen pockets”
- One of the reasons cellulite can look better some days and worse others is due mainly to fluid distribution shifts. Menses is often a time where this is evident
- Females have a difficult time losing fat from the lower body due to the unique physiology caused by their female hormones
- The alpha-adrenergic receptors can be blocked and bypassed using certain diet and supplement techniques
- The 4 F model allows you to understand what causes cellulite and how to get rid of cellulite or reduce it.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Fat Loss Foods? Is there such a thing?
by Jade Teta ND, CSCS
The term “fat loss foods” is showing up a lot lately and you may be wondering what the hell is meant by a “fat loss food”?
What Fat Loss Foods Really Are
There is no such thing as a food that burns fat. Fat loss foods don’t have magical fat burning properties. The reason they are so good at helping with fat loss is because they do three things:
- Control hunger. They make you full quickly and keep you full for longer because they are digested slowly.
- Raise energy. Because they are digested slowly their nutrients are absorbed in a slow steady fashion. This gives a steady supply of fuel and raises energy levels.
- Reduce cravings. Another benefit of the slow digestion, is balanced blood sugar. This along with the sustained energy and reduced hunger means cravings are also lowered.
Fat loss foods have specific properties that make them almost impossible to overeat. They are high in protein, high in fiber and high in water. These three factors are the most important elements in the satiety index, a measure of how well a food controls hunger.
It is wrong to think about some foods as “fat burners” and others as “fat storers” because the truth is if you eat too much of anything you are probably going to get fat. The point is no normal human can overeat fat loss foods! Lets face it, certain foods are very easy to overeat while others are almost impossible.
I love the example of a doughnut and chicken breast. Both have the same number of calories (roughly 250). I know plenty of people, myself included, who could eat 5 to 10 doughnuts at a meal. I am not sure I know anyone who would could eat 5 to 10 chicken breasts at one time, not to mention in one day.
The chicken breast is a fat loss food because eating it fills you up fast, will supply stable energy and makes it less likely you will crave more food later. Anyone who has ever eaten a few doughnuts for breakfast realizes almost the exact opposite effect…….they don’t keep you full for long, your energy usually crashes within 30 minutes and you will likely be craving something sweet again in a few short hours.
What it takes to burn fat
To burn fat, you need two things, a caloric deficit and hormonal balance. I realize the term “hormonal balance” is extremely ambiguous, so I will explain just briefly. Calories don’t control metabolism hormones do. If you are in a caloric deficit you will likely lose weight, but because hormones don’t control metabolism you may or may not be losing mostly fat.
Hormones control metabolism and when insulin, cortisol, leptin, catecholamines, thyroid and others that control fat metabolism are “balanced” (balanced meaning in the right amounts, ratios and able to interact correctly with their cell receptors), fat loss, not just weight loss, is the more likely outcome. Lowering calories can help you lose weight, but paying attention to hormones can make sure that weight is fat.
The final benefit of fat loss foods is more nutrition
The above distinction between caloric weight loss and hormonal fat loss explains why going on the Twinkie diet or the Starbucks diet can result in weight loss. And with weight loss comes some fat reduction. But, the real trick is are you eating in a way that is sustainable for you or not? If you are constantly hungry, have low energy and suffering uncontrollable cravings are you more or less likely to make a permanent lifestyle change?
This is no small matter. 95% of all people who go on calorie controlled weight loss diets fail to keep the weight off after 5 years. 66% of these dieters actually end up fatter than they were before they started the diet. It is now a well established fact that diets don’t work in large part because people simply can’t maintain them. It might be a good idea in theory, but a perfect plan that is impossible to do is not a perfect plan.
Fat loss foods control the very sensations that make dieting impossible for most and one hidden benefit is they are usually loaded with nutrition. The foods with the highest proportions of protein, fiber and water happen to be vegetables, fruits and animal proteins. A diet containing these foods and eliminating all other foods, usually referred to as a “Paleodiet”, was also found in research to be more nutritious compared to a low fat high grain diet.
Eating more fat loss foods
Rather than worrying about eating less, a focus on fat loss foods in particular almost assures you can eat your fill and remain in a caloric deficit and hormonal balance that will result in both weight loss and fat loss. To help you get started, follow the 5 steps below:
- At breakfast switch your cereals for either eggs, a protein shake or a leftover protein and vegetable from the night before
- At lunch trade out your sandwich and replace it with a soup or salad that is mostly vegetables and or meat
- For snacks lose the crackers, popcorn and candy and replace them with fruits, vegetables, animal protein, protein shakes or high protein dairy foods (Greek Yogurt, string cheese, etc)
- Replace all beverages with water, unsweet tea or unsweet coffee.
- Make sure you are eating frequent enough according to your needs.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Why Your Scale Can't Be Trusted
by Jade Teta
We talk a lot about the need to stop playing the weight loss game here at Metabolic Effect. This is a game where the scale is used daily to judge the progress of a diet and exercise program. Measuring your weight alone tells you NOTHING about the quality of the weight you are losing.
How do you know if you are losing fat, water or worse muscle? If you are using just a scale you have no idea. Losing or gaining 5 pounds of fat over a weekend is physiologically impossible, but the scale has convinced many that it can happen. A significant portion of those playing the weight loss game believe the weight they lose or gain on a day to day basis is fat. And the popular media and weight loss experts do nothing to help them understand that not only is this not true, but it also is one of the major reasons they continue to suffer from yo-yo weight regain and can’t lose fat as they age.
Losing Muscle
I want to introduce you to my wife, Jill Coleman and my sister-in-law ,Dr Jillian Sarno Teta. They are both named Jillian, but we call my Jillian Jill and Keoni’s Jillian Jillian. Both are from Boston and are the same age distance from myself and Keoni. They are both past track athletes. And both are ridiculously fit women who lift weights, are professional physique competitors and fitness models. They are both wicked smaaaht (a reference to their Boston roots) and are Metabolic Effect team members. They play a key role in developing the ME lifestyle programs and systems.
I bring our two favorite women in the world up because these women have muscle and weigh more than anybody could guess. A running joke in our family is to take them to the carnival or fair and find that guy that guesses weight. We always go home with an extra stuffed animal, because they always guess 10 to 20 pounds lighter. Jill weighs 150 to 160 but they always guess in the 130s. Jillian weighs in the 130-140s and they always guess in the 10 to 20 pounds lighter. In other words, these two fit women look twenty pounds lighter than what they actually are because they have maintained their muscle. Their bodies are tight, toned and look much tinier than the scale might suggest.
I bring this up because one of the single most important mind-shifts to break is how much you weigh. Because if you are losing weight indiscriminately and shedding muscle instead of fat (which almost all dieters are), your metabolism is going to be in BIG trouble over the long run.
Muscle is absolutely essential for maintaining basal metabolic rate. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) accounts for over two thirds of the calories burned at rest and more than half of BMR can be accounted for by the amount muscle a person has (1). It was shown as far back as 1988 in the February issue of the New England Journal of medicine that a slowed BMR is a predictor of fat gain over the course of a 2-year period (2). In this study those with the slowest metabolic rate had a 4-fold increase in gaining 15 or more pounds over the next 2 years. This explains why 66% of individuals going on weight loss diets end up fatter 2 years later compared to when they started the diet (3)
So, lose muscle and you lose your metabolic potential!! And guess what is a great formula for losing muscle? The “eat less, exercise more” model. A low calorie diet combined with aerobic exercise is a solution that may make you smaller for a short period of time, but will end up making you either flabbier or fatter in the long run and in a terrible position to make losing weight again that much more difficult, because you lost muscle along the way.
A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in April 1999 showed just how damaging the standard weight loss model can be on metabolic efficiency (4). This study looked at a group of obese individuals who were put on a very low calorie diet and assigned to one of two exercise regimes. One group followed the popular aerobic exercise model (walking, biking, or jogging four times per week), while the second group did resistance training three times per week and no aerobic exercise.
At the end of the twelve-week study, both groups lost weight but the difference in muscle vs. fat loss was striking. The aerobic group lost 37 pounds over the course of the study. The resistance-training group lost 32 pounds. Of the 37 pounds lost by the aerobic group, 10 pounds of muscle was lost on average. In comparison, the resistance-training group lost fat exclusively and had no muscle loss. This had consequences on basal metabolic rate (BMR). At the conclusion of the study, the aerobic group was shown to be burning 210 fewer calories at rest per day while the resistance-training group actually increased their metabolism by 63 calories per day. No wonder yo-yo weight regain is such an issue.
Measure Fat Loss
So, hopefully you understand the futility of putting too much stock in the weight showing on your scale. If the scale is going down, you better make sure you are losing fat, NOT muscle. If you are losing muscle you should brace yourself for the weight gain rebound that is sure to come, as well as a less efficient metabolism later. This chronic dieting mindset and attachment to the scale may ironically be the very thing that has caused your metabolism to now be unresponsive to your attempts at body change. The weight loss game is rigged against you, so please stop playing it.
To make sure you are losing fat and not muscle you need to measure fat loss. There are several good ways to do this in a lab setting (DEXA, Hydrostatic weighing, Air Displacment Plethysmography, etc). These get you as close to accurate body fat measures as possible. The problem is these methods are expensive, and not widely available. If you are going to track fat loss you need something that is cheap, convenient and able to show you a general trend of fat loss versus water or muscle loss. Here are our favorite methods below.
1) Bio-electrical impedance: These machines can be held or stood on (you need bare feet and the standing modules are better than the handheld in our opinion). They push an electrical current into the body (you can’t feel it) and the machines measures the “impedance” or resistance to that current. Water is a good conductor of electricity and fat is not. Where is most of the water in the body? The Muscle.
So, this machine makes a best guess of how much muscle, versus water, versus fat you have based on the impedance value along with height and weight. It takes these numbers and plugs them into regression equations based off of thousands of DEXA scan studies and generates a estimate of your actual body fat.
It is important to understand this is a hydration measuring device NOT a fat measuring device (meaning it does not measure fat directly but estimates it based on hydration) and because water fluctuates so greatly in the body (the reason you can gain or lose 5 pounds in a weekend) you have to know how to read them. They are NOT accurate, but when used consistently at the same time, under the same conditions weekly they definitely show a trend of muscle loss or fat loss.
A couple hints with these machines about the way we use them
- Measure only 1 time per week
- Measure first thing Friday morning before eating or drinking anything.
subtract the water value from the muscle mass value (BTW muscle mass, also reported as fat free mass, is not really a measure for muscle but rather a measure for water, organ tissue, bone and muscle. Organ and bone will not change significantly, so you are left with water and muscle. subtracting the water value from the fat free mass value will give you an indication of muscle gain or loss)
- Consider measures taken during menses as comparable to only other measures done during menses.
The first week of a low carb diet will artificially look as if you gained a significant amount of fat. This is because insulin makes you hold onto both sodium and glycogen. When you go low carb, you will lower insulin quickly and lose glycogen and sodium and shed a significant amount of weight (it is all water). But since this water goes into the calculation for fat free mass or muscle mass it will artificially look as if you lost muscle and your body fat % will be reported on the machine as going up. In fact it did not. This is an artifact and will correct. BTW, this is a good sign and an indication you are entering “fat burning mode”
- We use the Tanita Ironman Series and recommend unit BC 549
Optimal for women is between than 25%-15% body fat (my opinion)
Optimal for men is between 15% and 8% body fat (my opinion)
2) Weight and circumference: This is not a great method either, but it can be useful. This looks at weight along with circumference measures. If you sign-up for our newsletter (top of the page to the right) one of the first things we give you is the sheet we use for those who are not going to invest in a body composition monitor like the ones above. As you can imagine if you lose muscle, your measurements on a tape measure will still go down. You can lose muscle and still fit in your skinny jeans. So, these are less than perfect ways to judge fat loss. But, this is definitely better than weight alone.
Here are some pointers:
- Women losing fat will usually see the waist and bust size drop. The hips may not change as much because it is a heavily muscled area
- Men will notice waist size decrease significantly.
- Measure one time per week under the same conditions using a tape measure allows you to track specific areas.
- Firmness and tone of the body is a good indicator. If you are losing weight and getting flabby you are likely losing muscle. If you are losing weight and getting tighter, you are probably losing fat.
Skin Caliper Testing: If you work with a trainer this is our favorite method. The issue is that this takes a skilled practitioner to do and the same person must do it on you every time for accuracy. It is still the most accurate of the three methods listed here and the most repeatable in my opinion. IF you can get skin calipers done we recommend you do.
We talk a lot about the need to stop playing the weight loss game here at Metabolic Effect. This is a game where the scale is used daily to judge the progress of a diet and exercise program. Measuring your weight alone tells you NOTHING about the quality of the weight you are losing.
How do you know if you are losing fat, water or worse muscle? If you are using just a scale you have no idea. Losing or gaining 5 pounds of fat over a weekend is physiologically impossible, but the scale has convinced many that it can happen. A significant portion of those playing the weight loss game believe the weight they lose or gain on a day to day basis is fat. And the popular media and weight loss experts do nothing to help them understand that not only is this not true, but it also is one of the major reasons they continue to suffer from yo-yo weight regain and can’t lose fat as they age.
Losing Muscle
I want to introduce you to my wife, Jill Coleman and my sister-in-law ,Dr Jillian Sarno Teta. They are both named Jillian, but we call my Jillian Jill and Keoni’s Jillian Jillian. Both are from Boston and are the same age distance from myself and Keoni. They are both past track athletes. And both are ridiculously fit women who lift weights, are professional physique competitors and fitness models. They are both wicked smaaaht (a reference to their Boston roots) and are Metabolic Effect team members. They play a key role in developing the ME lifestyle programs and systems.
I bring our two favorite women in the world up because these women have muscle and weigh more than anybody could guess. A running joke in our family is to take them to the carnival or fair and find that guy that guesses weight. We always go home with an extra stuffed animal, because they always guess 10 to 20 pounds lighter. Jill weighs 150 to 160 but they always guess in the 130s. Jillian weighs in the 130-140s and they always guess in the 10 to 20 pounds lighter. In other words, these two fit women look twenty pounds lighter than what they actually are because they have maintained their muscle. Their bodies are tight, toned and look much tinier than the scale might suggest.
I bring this up because one of the single most important mind-shifts to break is how much you weigh. Because if you are losing weight indiscriminately and shedding muscle instead of fat (which almost all dieters are), your metabolism is going to be in BIG trouble over the long run.
Muscle is absolutely essential for maintaining basal metabolic rate. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) accounts for over two thirds of the calories burned at rest and more than half of BMR can be accounted for by the amount muscle a person has (1). It was shown as far back as 1988 in the February issue of the New England Journal of medicine that a slowed BMR is a predictor of fat gain over the course of a 2-year period (2). In this study those with the slowest metabolic rate had a 4-fold increase in gaining 15 or more pounds over the next 2 years. This explains why 66% of individuals going on weight loss diets end up fatter 2 years later compared to when they started the diet (3)
So, lose muscle and you lose your metabolic potential!! And guess what is a great formula for losing muscle? The “eat less, exercise more” model. A low calorie diet combined with aerobic exercise is a solution that may make you smaller for a short period of time, but will end up making you either flabbier or fatter in the long run and in a terrible position to make losing weight again that much more difficult, because you lost muscle along the way.
A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in April 1999 showed just how damaging the standard weight loss model can be on metabolic efficiency (4). This study looked at a group of obese individuals who were put on a very low calorie diet and assigned to one of two exercise regimes. One group followed the popular aerobic exercise model (walking, biking, or jogging four times per week), while the second group did resistance training three times per week and no aerobic exercise.
At the end of the twelve-week study, both groups lost weight but the difference in muscle vs. fat loss was striking. The aerobic group lost 37 pounds over the course of the study. The resistance-training group lost 32 pounds. Of the 37 pounds lost by the aerobic group, 10 pounds of muscle was lost on average. In comparison, the resistance-training group lost fat exclusively and had no muscle loss. This had consequences on basal metabolic rate (BMR). At the conclusion of the study, the aerobic group was shown to be burning 210 fewer calories at rest per day while the resistance-training group actually increased their metabolism by 63 calories per day. No wonder yo-yo weight regain is such an issue.
Measure Fat Loss
So, hopefully you understand the futility of putting too much stock in the weight showing on your scale. If the scale is going down, you better make sure you are losing fat, NOT muscle. If you are losing muscle you should brace yourself for the weight gain rebound that is sure to come, as well as a less efficient metabolism later. This chronic dieting mindset and attachment to the scale may ironically be the very thing that has caused your metabolism to now be unresponsive to your attempts at body change. The weight loss game is rigged against you, so please stop playing it.
To make sure you are losing fat and not muscle you need to measure fat loss. There are several good ways to do this in a lab setting (DEXA, Hydrostatic weighing, Air Displacment Plethysmography, etc). These get you as close to accurate body fat measures as possible. The problem is these methods are expensive, and not widely available. If you are going to track fat loss you need something that is cheap, convenient and able to show you a general trend of fat loss versus water or muscle loss. Here are our favorite methods below.
1) Bio-electrical impedance: These machines can be held or stood on (you need bare feet and the standing modules are better than the handheld in our opinion). They push an electrical current into the body (you can’t feel it) and the machines measures the “impedance” or resistance to that current. Water is a good conductor of electricity and fat is not. Where is most of the water in the body? The Muscle.
So, this machine makes a best guess of how much muscle, versus water, versus fat you have based on the impedance value along with height and weight. It takes these numbers and plugs them into regression equations based off of thousands of DEXA scan studies and generates a estimate of your actual body fat.
It is important to understand this is a hydration measuring device NOT a fat measuring device (meaning it does not measure fat directly but estimates it based on hydration) and because water fluctuates so greatly in the body (the reason you can gain or lose 5 pounds in a weekend) you have to know how to read them. They are NOT accurate, but when used consistently at the same time, under the same conditions weekly they definitely show a trend of muscle loss or fat loss.
A couple hints with these machines about the way we use them
- Measure only 1 time per week
- Measure first thing Friday morning before eating or drinking anything.
subtract the water value from the muscle mass value (BTW muscle mass, also reported as fat free mass, is not really a measure for muscle but rather a measure for water, organ tissue, bone and muscle. Organ and bone will not change significantly, so you are left with water and muscle. subtracting the water value from the fat free mass value will give you an indication of muscle gain or loss)
- Consider measures taken during menses as comparable to only other measures done during menses.
The first week of a low carb diet will artificially look as if you gained a significant amount of fat. This is because insulin makes you hold onto both sodium and glycogen. When you go low carb, you will lower insulin quickly and lose glycogen and sodium and shed a significant amount of weight (it is all water). But since this water goes into the calculation for fat free mass or muscle mass it will artificially look as if you lost muscle and your body fat % will be reported on the machine as going up. In fact it did not. This is an artifact and will correct. BTW, this is a good sign and an indication you are entering “fat burning mode”
- We use the Tanita Ironman Series and recommend unit BC 549
Optimal for women is between than 25%-15% body fat (my opinion)
Optimal for men is between 15% and 8% body fat (my opinion)
2) Weight and circumference: This is not a great method either, but it can be useful. This looks at weight along with circumference measures. If you sign-up for our newsletter (top of the page to the right) one of the first things we give you is the sheet we use for those who are not going to invest in a body composition monitor like the ones above. As you can imagine if you lose muscle, your measurements on a tape measure will still go down. You can lose muscle and still fit in your skinny jeans. So, these are less than perfect ways to judge fat loss. But, this is definitely better than weight alone.
Here are some pointers:
- Women losing fat will usually see the waist and bust size drop. The hips may not change as much because it is a heavily muscled area
- Men will notice waist size decrease significantly.
- Measure one time per week under the same conditions using a tape measure allows you to track specific areas.
- Firmness and tone of the body is a good indicator. If you are losing weight and getting flabby you are likely losing muscle. If you are losing weight and getting tighter, you are probably losing fat.
Skin Caliper Testing: If you work with a trainer this is our favorite method. The issue is that this takes a skilled practitioner to do and the same person must do it on you every time for accuracy. It is still the most accurate of the three methods listed here and the most repeatable in my opinion. IF you can get skin calipers done we recommend you do.
The Female Fat-Loss Formula
by Jade Teta ND, CSCS
Women are particularly drawn to the Metabolic Effect lifestyle, diet and exercise for hormonal fat loss. Because women experience monthly hormone fluctuations through the menstrual cycle, they know from experience that hormones impact how they feel, function, and look. They seem to intuitively get the fact that hormones play a role in determining whether they store fat or burn fat and where. Because we always get many questions about the science of hormonal fat burning in women, I thought I would cover it here as a brief primer on the subject. This is perhaps one of the most misunderstood of all topics in natural health.
There is no question that the female sex steroids dramatically impact how much and where on the body a women will store fat. The difference between men and women make this very clear. Women usually have smaller waists and more fat storage on the hips, thighs and breasts. Estrogen and progesterone have much to do with this. Estrogen is largely responsible for greater fat storage around the hips and thighs while both estrogen and progesterone impact larger breasts (Progesterone may be more of an issue here…just ask a women who is pregnant, a very progesterone dominant time). Men, on the other hand, are usually much leaner through the arms and the legs and store more fat around the middle as a consequence of testosterone.
Estrogen:Progesterone Balance
Most women, and even many health care providers, are unaware of the issues related to estrogen and progesterone balance. It is the ratio of these hormone one to another that determines the health impact and the fat-burning outcome. Unfortunately there is no good way to test this since each women is unique and likely has an optimal estrogen to progesterone balance all her own. Some hints this ratio may be off come from looking at the body and exploring symptoms. Bigger hips and thighs with smaller breasts could suggest greater estrogen effects in a women. The reverse, with larger breasts and smaller hips and thighs, may indicate progesterone excess. The menstrual cycle is the best place to look for clues. The first two weeks of a woman’s cycle are an estrogen dominate time while the last two weeks are a progesterone dominant time. PMS is a strong indication there is a progesterone deficiency relative to estrogen. Don’t get confused here, a relative deficiency is not the same as an absolute deficiency. A woman can have higher than normal progesterone levels but still have a relative deficiency if estrogen levels are much higher in comparison. Many women with low progesterone relative to estrogen will report feeling like a completely different person before ovulation (first two weeks of cycle) vs after ovulation (last two weeks of cycle), where they feel much worse. This ill feeling usually manifests as depression, breast tenderness, moodiness, fatigue, lack of motivation, bloating and other complaints.
Estrogen, Progesterone and fat storage
Progesterone may be the most important hormone in keeping the waist of women smaller and giving the hour glass shape. This is because progesterone and cortisol are antagonists to one another meaning they each block the action of each other. Therefore, higher levels of progesterone may decrease cortisol’s action on the belly. However, high stress levels will impact progesterone for two reasons. First, in the adrenal glands progesterone is used to make cortisol. Many holistic physicians, including myself, believe progesterone derived from the ovaries can be used to increase cortisol production when needed. This is called “progesterone steal” or “pregnenolone steal” and is used to describe a situation where the adrenal glands “steal”/use up pregnenolone (a precursor to progesterone) or progesterone to make the stress hormone cortisol. Next, cortisol antagonizes progesterone’s action at its receptors thereby decreasing progesterone’s impact in the body.
Estrogen is a little different. Estrogen may work to increase fat storage by up-regulating alpha adrenergic receptors in female fat depots around the hips and thighs. Adrenergic receptors are like the gas and brake peddles on your car and work to accelrate or decrease fat usage. Beta adrenergic receptors increase fat burning while alpha adrenergic receptors block it. The hips and thighs of a women have high amounts of alpha adrenergic receptors. This is the major reason it is so difficult for some women to lose fat from the hips and thighs. Many women have plenty of fat to spare around that area but instead will become smaller in the torso and breast rather than the hips and thighs.
Estrogen increases alpha adrenergic receptor density while progesterone decreases it. Progesterone has also been shown to increase beta adrenergic receptors (so does testosterone). In this way, estrogen and progesterone work to influence the ability to burn fat and determine from which areas it will be taken from. This is an issue of hormone balance not calories and believe it or not, aerobic exercise makes this worse NOT better. I will get to that in a minute. Estrogen is also a weak antagonist of thyroid hormone which is a major metabolic fat burning hormone. This is a major reason why women should work hard to decrease the effects of estrogen in their environment. Many women are unaware, but the environment they live in is swimming with estrogen related compounds. Plastics, coffee, pesticides, soy, and others contain chemicals that resemble human estrogen and act as weak estrogens in the body impacting a woman’s total estrogen load.
Women should not make the mistake of assuming estrogen is all bad. Too often people want to put labels on biochemicals and hormones as if things are black and white, they are not. Hormonal action needs to be within a range of function. Too high is not good, but neither is too low. In addition, hormones behave differently depending on the balance of other hormones around with them. It is the total hormonal influence that makes a difference. Estrogen helps the body be more sensitive to insulin and has fat-loss and muscle building benefits in that regard. As long as it is in balance with progesterone and other hormones it aids fat loss for women. Likewise, while good testosterone levels in a women are beneficial, if it is too high and present with higher cortisol, estrogen and insulin it can lead to PCOS and masculinization causing increased hair growth and other negative effects women would prefer to avoid.
Working with female hormones
Perhaps the biggest mistake I see in my clinic and with my personal training clients is the way women approach body change. Women are often duped into believing the low calorie diet and aerobic exercise myth. This approach to weight loss rarely works and often creates damage to their body as a consequence. Here is why. As a women ages, as a consequence of stress or because of environmental estrogen mimicking compounds several things begin to occur. First, the ovaries decrease their production of estrogen and progesterone potentially exacerbating an estrogen:progesterone imbalance. This is because there are many estrogen mimickers in our food and environment and fat cells continue to produce estrogen through an enzyme called aromatase present in fat cells. As a consequence the estrogen/progesterone balance begins to shift more towards estrogen. At the same time human growth hormone (HGH) levels decline and DHEA, a precursor to testosterone, is lowered. Together this creates the perfect storm for female related fat gain and most of it will occur in the middle. DHEA, HGH and progesterone all act to keep a woman lean and block the storage of fat in the middle of her body. The tricky part is that a low calorie diet and a focus on aerobic exercise makes this worse because they do nothing to restore these powerful hormones and may actually increase the impact of cortisol only furthering the imbalanced hormonal effect in the long run.
Instead what women should be focused on is eating higher amounts of vegetables and “estrogen free protein” (a soy free and organic meat focused approach) and most importantly, weight train. There are only three ways to reliably restore HGH in the body: sleep, adequate protein, and intense exercise using weights. The current trend is for women to take up an aerobic exercise program, go on a low calorie vegetarian diet, and use stimulating “fat burning” supplements. All of these choices are poor ways to reverse the underlying hormonal issues because they often interfere with sleep, adequate protein, and weight training. Weight training is perhaps the most important aspect of this and is critical for female health especially to stop the belly fat that accumulates during aging. HGH is to women what testosterone is to men, it keeps them looking young, lean and firm. Ironically, most women avoid weight training opting instead for lower intensity walking or yoga. They falsely believe this will give them the desired “look” of their younger years. While these activities are exceedingly healthy they will not be adequate to generate the hormonal effect needed to raise HGH and DHEA.
The female fat-loss formula involves the following:
1. Decrease exposure to all estrogen related factors in the diet and environment. Including plastic bottles, coffee, soy, pesticides, non-organic meats, sodas, etc.
2.Help the body deal with excess estrogen through natural detoxification. This is done through increased intake of green tea, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc), increased fiber, tailored supplementation, and decreased dairy and grain (yes, these cause excess release of insulin and will do little to protect female bones if eaten in excess)
3. Decrease insulin and cortisol effects by decreasing most grains and starches and replace with fruits and vegetables. Drink water (not out of plastic) and green tea and skip coffee and other beverages.
4. Supplement with Vitamin D, calcium, and Fish Oil (Krill oil is best for women), yes to protect bones, but more importantly to decrease catabolic inflammation and protect against heart disease and cancer.
5. Train with weights 3 to 5 times per week. If you want to burn fat, decrease belly fat, build bone, improve mood, enhance strength, bolster self-esteem, tighten the body (it is the only way to do this) and decrease morbidity and mortality into old age nothing…NOTHING compares to weight lifting exercise. Walking is necessity NOT exercise. Everyone should walk as much as they can daily.
Talk to a holistic physician trained in restoring hormonal balance through the use of natural foods, herbs, hormone precursors, and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. Natural medicine has much more to offer in this arena than conventional medicine. Conventional doctors know next to nothing about nutrition and even less about exercise.
Women are particularly drawn to the Metabolic Effect lifestyle, diet and exercise for hormonal fat loss. Because women experience monthly hormone fluctuations through the menstrual cycle, they know from experience that hormones impact how they feel, function, and look. They seem to intuitively get the fact that hormones play a role in determining whether they store fat or burn fat and where. Because we always get many questions about the science of hormonal fat burning in women, I thought I would cover it here as a brief primer on the subject. This is perhaps one of the most misunderstood of all topics in natural health.
There is no question that the female sex steroids dramatically impact how much and where on the body a women will store fat. The difference between men and women make this very clear. Women usually have smaller waists and more fat storage on the hips, thighs and breasts. Estrogen and progesterone have much to do with this. Estrogen is largely responsible for greater fat storage around the hips and thighs while both estrogen and progesterone impact larger breasts (Progesterone may be more of an issue here…just ask a women who is pregnant, a very progesterone dominant time). Men, on the other hand, are usually much leaner through the arms and the legs and store more fat around the middle as a consequence of testosterone.
Estrogen:Progesterone Balance
Most women, and even many health care providers, are unaware of the issues related to estrogen and progesterone balance. It is the ratio of these hormone one to another that determines the health impact and the fat-burning outcome. Unfortunately there is no good way to test this since each women is unique and likely has an optimal estrogen to progesterone balance all her own. Some hints this ratio may be off come from looking at the body and exploring symptoms. Bigger hips and thighs with smaller breasts could suggest greater estrogen effects in a women. The reverse, with larger breasts and smaller hips and thighs, may indicate progesterone excess. The menstrual cycle is the best place to look for clues. The first two weeks of a woman’s cycle are an estrogen dominate time while the last two weeks are a progesterone dominant time. PMS is a strong indication there is a progesterone deficiency relative to estrogen. Don’t get confused here, a relative deficiency is not the same as an absolute deficiency. A woman can have higher than normal progesterone levels but still have a relative deficiency if estrogen levels are much higher in comparison. Many women with low progesterone relative to estrogen will report feeling like a completely different person before ovulation (first two weeks of cycle) vs after ovulation (last two weeks of cycle), where they feel much worse. This ill feeling usually manifests as depression, breast tenderness, moodiness, fatigue, lack of motivation, bloating and other complaints.
Estrogen, Progesterone and fat storage
Progesterone may be the most important hormone in keeping the waist of women smaller and giving the hour glass shape. This is because progesterone and cortisol are antagonists to one another meaning they each block the action of each other. Therefore, higher levels of progesterone may decrease cortisol’s action on the belly. However, high stress levels will impact progesterone for two reasons. First, in the adrenal glands progesterone is used to make cortisol. Many holistic physicians, including myself, believe progesterone derived from the ovaries can be used to increase cortisol production when needed. This is called “progesterone steal” or “pregnenolone steal” and is used to describe a situation where the adrenal glands “steal”/use up pregnenolone (a precursor to progesterone) or progesterone to make the stress hormone cortisol. Next, cortisol antagonizes progesterone’s action at its receptors thereby decreasing progesterone’s impact in the body.
Estrogen is a little different. Estrogen may work to increase fat storage by up-regulating alpha adrenergic receptors in female fat depots around the hips and thighs. Adrenergic receptors are like the gas and brake peddles on your car and work to accelrate or decrease fat usage. Beta adrenergic receptors increase fat burning while alpha adrenergic receptors block it. The hips and thighs of a women have high amounts of alpha adrenergic receptors. This is the major reason it is so difficult for some women to lose fat from the hips and thighs. Many women have plenty of fat to spare around that area but instead will become smaller in the torso and breast rather than the hips and thighs.
Estrogen increases alpha adrenergic receptor density while progesterone decreases it. Progesterone has also been shown to increase beta adrenergic receptors (so does testosterone). In this way, estrogen and progesterone work to influence the ability to burn fat and determine from which areas it will be taken from. This is an issue of hormone balance not calories and believe it or not, aerobic exercise makes this worse NOT better. I will get to that in a minute. Estrogen is also a weak antagonist of thyroid hormone which is a major metabolic fat burning hormone. This is a major reason why women should work hard to decrease the effects of estrogen in their environment. Many women are unaware, but the environment they live in is swimming with estrogen related compounds. Plastics, coffee, pesticides, soy, and others contain chemicals that resemble human estrogen and act as weak estrogens in the body impacting a woman’s total estrogen load.
Women should not make the mistake of assuming estrogen is all bad. Too often people want to put labels on biochemicals and hormones as if things are black and white, they are not. Hormonal action needs to be within a range of function. Too high is not good, but neither is too low. In addition, hormones behave differently depending on the balance of other hormones around with them. It is the total hormonal influence that makes a difference. Estrogen helps the body be more sensitive to insulin and has fat-loss and muscle building benefits in that regard. As long as it is in balance with progesterone and other hormones it aids fat loss for women. Likewise, while good testosterone levels in a women are beneficial, if it is too high and present with higher cortisol, estrogen and insulin it can lead to PCOS and masculinization causing increased hair growth and other negative effects women would prefer to avoid.
Working with female hormones
Perhaps the biggest mistake I see in my clinic and with my personal training clients is the way women approach body change. Women are often duped into believing the low calorie diet and aerobic exercise myth. This approach to weight loss rarely works and often creates damage to their body as a consequence. Here is why. As a women ages, as a consequence of stress or because of environmental estrogen mimicking compounds several things begin to occur. First, the ovaries decrease their production of estrogen and progesterone potentially exacerbating an estrogen:progesterone imbalance. This is because there are many estrogen mimickers in our food and environment and fat cells continue to produce estrogen through an enzyme called aromatase present in fat cells. As a consequence the estrogen/progesterone balance begins to shift more towards estrogen. At the same time human growth hormone (HGH) levels decline and DHEA, a precursor to testosterone, is lowered. Together this creates the perfect storm for female related fat gain and most of it will occur in the middle. DHEA, HGH and progesterone all act to keep a woman lean and block the storage of fat in the middle of her body. The tricky part is that a low calorie diet and a focus on aerobic exercise makes this worse because they do nothing to restore these powerful hormones and may actually increase the impact of cortisol only furthering the imbalanced hormonal effect in the long run.
Instead what women should be focused on is eating higher amounts of vegetables and “estrogen free protein” (a soy free and organic meat focused approach) and most importantly, weight train. There are only three ways to reliably restore HGH in the body: sleep, adequate protein, and intense exercise using weights. The current trend is for women to take up an aerobic exercise program, go on a low calorie vegetarian diet, and use stimulating “fat burning” supplements. All of these choices are poor ways to reverse the underlying hormonal issues because they often interfere with sleep, adequate protein, and weight training. Weight training is perhaps the most important aspect of this and is critical for female health especially to stop the belly fat that accumulates during aging. HGH is to women what testosterone is to men, it keeps them looking young, lean and firm. Ironically, most women avoid weight training opting instead for lower intensity walking or yoga. They falsely believe this will give them the desired “look” of their younger years. While these activities are exceedingly healthy they will not be adequate to generate the hormonal effect needed to raise HGH and DHEA.
The female fat-loss formula involves the following:
1. Decrease exposure to all estrogen related factors in the diet and environment. Including plastic bottles, coffee, soy, pesticides, non-organic meats, sodas, etc.
2.Help the body deal with excess estrogen through natural detoxification. This is done through increased intake of green tea, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc), increased fiber, tailored supplementation, and decreased dairy and grain (yes, these cause excess release of insulin and will do little to protect female bones if eaten in excess)
3. Decrease insulin and cortisol effects by decreasing most grains and starches and replace with fruits and vegetables. Drink water (not out of plastic) and green tea and skip coffee and other beverages.
4. Supplement with Vitamin D, calcium, and Fish Oil (Krill oil is best for women), yes to protect bones, but more importantly to decrease catabolic inflammation and protect against heart disease and cancer.
5. Train with weights 3 to 5 times per week. If you want to burn fat, decrease belly fat, build bone, improve mood, enhance strength, bolster self-esteem, tighten the body (it is the only way to do this) and decrease morbidity and mortality into old age nothing…NOTHING compares to weight lifting exercise. Walking is necessity NOT exercise. Everyone should walk as much as they can daily.
Talk to a holistic physician trained in restoring hormonal balance through the use of natural foods, herbs, hormone precursors, and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. Natural medicine has much more to offer in this arena than conventional medicine. Conventional doctors know next to nothing about nutrition and even less about exercise.
Importance of Strength Training As We Age
By: Dr. Mercola | December 16 2011
Story at-a-glance
- Around the age of 40, most people
begin to lose about eight percent of
their muscle mass per decade. But
research has shown this is not an
inevitable effect of aging itself—it is
the result of inactivity.
- In one recent study, competitive
athletes in their 70’s and 80’s were
found to have almost as much thigh
muscle mass as athletes in their 40s,
indicating that muscle deterioration
can be halted as long as you
maintain an exercise program
- An animal study from last year
discovered that elderly sedentary
rats put on a running program
developed new stem cells known to
repair and build muscle tissue after 13 weeks of exercise
- Ideally your fitness program should include a comprehensive range of exercises, including balance-training activities, and exercises to improve your strength, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and human growth hormone production
By Dr. Mercola
Increasing physical frailty as you age is commonly accepted as "a fact of life."
Until recently, most studies showed that after the age of 40, people typically lose eight percent or more of their muscle mass with each passing decade. But newer research suggests that this is not a foregone conclusion. One recent study of 40 competitive runners, cyclists, and swimmers, ranging in age from 40 to 81, found no evidence of deterioration -- the athletes in their 70s and 80s had almost as much thigh muscle mass as the athletes in their 40s. Quoted in the New York Times, Dr. Vonda Wright, who oversaw the study, said:"We think these are very encouraging results…They suggest strongly that people don't have to lose muscle mass and function as they grow older. The changes that we've assumed were due to aging and therefore were unstoppable seem actually to be caused by inactivity. And that can be changed."
Other recent studies have had similar results. For example, in an animal study from last year, elderly sedentary rats put on a running program developed new satellite cells after 13 weeks. These cells are specialized stem cells known to repair and build muscle tissue.
Lifelong Activity is Best, but it's Never Too Late to Start Over the past several years, researchers have discovered that it is indeed possible to restore the ability of old human muscle to repair and rebuild itself. However, the need to keep aging muscles in shape has also been demonstrated, as long periods of atrophy are more challenging to overcome. These findings fall into the category of common sense, along the lines of "use it or lose it." And as you age, physical exercise becomes an ever more important aspect of optimal health and longevity.
The good news is that it's really never too late to start an exercise program, even if you've been inactive for a long time. Just keep in mind that older muscles do not respond as well to sudden bouts of exercise, so to take precautions and start off slow, to avoid injury.
Making Exercise Safe and Effective as You Age
Safety is always an important aspect of exercise, but becomes crucial if you're older and just embarking on a regimented exercise program. Unfortunately, many elderly forgo exercise altogether because of a fear of injury or pain, when, in fact, proper exercise will ultimately reduce your risk of injury as well as help to improve pain.
If you're elderly, it's advisable to get a workout buddy -- a personal trainer or someone who is experienced -- to help guide you through your routine. Start off slowly and gradually increase intensity as you grow stronger, avoiding activities that aggravate or cause pain. Just keep in mind that while you need to use caution, you do need to exercise at a level that is challenging to your body.
Otherwise the true benefits will be forfeited.
Ideally your fitness program should be comprehensive, providing the necessary balance-training activities for stability while also improving your strength, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and fat-burning capabilities with high-intensity "Peak" exercises.
During 'peak exercises,' you raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, followed by a 90-second recovery period. You repeat this cycle for a total of eight repetitions. Peak exercises are particularly beneficial for aging bodies as this type of interval training triggers the natural production of human growth hormone (HGH), also known as "the fitness hormone." HGH plays an integral role in maintaining youthfulness and strength. (For an in-depth explanation of my peak fitness regimen, please review this past article.)
While anaerobic Peak exercises may seem too advanced for the elderly, don't let the intensity dissuade you! Rest assured you can perform Peak exercises at ANY age. The only difference is that the older you are the lower your maximum heart rate will be.
My Latest Findings on Optimal Exercise
I've been recommending doing Peak 8 exercises three times a week, but after doing that myself for about a year, I gradually felt that it was too much for me. I cut down to once a week, which seemed to work out well. But after discussing it with Phil Campbell, he made a compelling argument to increase it back to three times a week. Getting growth hormone produced three times instead of just once a week can have profound health benefits, so I bumped it backed up.
I decided to make additional changes after I interviewed Dr. Doug McGuff, who is a strong proponent of Super Slow weight training. That interview will be published on January 6th, so for more information about Super Slow weight training, please open up that newsletter. Dr. McGuff believes that you only need 12 minutes of Super Slow type strength training once a week.
I really enjoyed my interview with him as he helped me appreciate a nagging truth that I hadn't quite captured yet, and that is the crucial nature of recovery integrated into listening to your body.
The Importance of Recovery
I have known the importance of "Listen to Your Body," and always advocate this when it comes to selecting foods. But this also applies to exercise and recovery. The epiphany I had with Dr. McGuff is that I wasn't applying the 'listen to your body' principle with respect to my exercise program. When I grilled him on the parameters of how to know if you are recovered from your exercise, he said:
"You would have a restless energy and feel like you have to engage in some type of physical activity. You will spontaneously just want to work out."
Well that had not happened to me for some time, and I believe I was pushing myself too hard and had not allowed myself enough recovery time. This is probably not a problem for most people who exercise, as they are more than likely not pushing themselves hard enough, but when you go to extremes like in Peak Fitness, this is a serious risk you need to pay careful attention to.
So right now I'm in a massive experimentation phase, and I'm having fun playing around with my exercise program. I will likely be exercising the same length of time, just breaking it up differently, and listening to my body. I suspect that will be more ideal for me and I intend to report on my results so you can learn from it.
The lesson here is that life is an exciting journey, and you're never "too old." As you age, you do need to adjust however, and discover through trial and error what works best for you. Learn to listen to your body so it can guide you onto a path that will provide you with the most efficient and effective benefits.
For the Elderly, Exercise Can Quite Literally Save Your Life
As you get older your muscle and bone mass decrease and the senses that guide your balance -- vision, touch, proprioception -- may all start to deteriorate, and this can make you unsteady on your feet. Needless to say, bone fractures and brain injuries resulting from falls can be life threatening. Exercise is a key to maintaining your balance as you get older, and should really be viewed as a necessity -- like eating and sleeping -- as it can quite literally save your life.
By taking the time to do balance, strength and other exercises on a regular basis you can keep your sense of balance strong, and even restore what's already been lost.
In a study published last year, eight weeks of balance training reduced slips and improved the likelihood of recovery from slips among the elderly. Separate research, which noted that "altered balance is the greatest collaborator towards falls in the elderly," found balance training is effective in improving functional and static balance, mobility and falling frequency in elderly women with osteoporosis.
The ability to balance on one leg is also an important predictor of injury-causing falls, so if you know that you'd be shaky if you tried to stand on one foot, you're at an increased risk of being hurt in a fall and should start appropriate exercises immediately.
Yes, You Can Exercise at ANY Age
Earlier this fall I posted a couple of videos showing my mother's exercise routine. She didn't start working out until she was 74 and now, at the age of 77, she has gained significant improvements in strength, range of motion, balance, bone density and mental clarity.
Exercise Strengthens More than Muscle
Your muscles aren't the only benefactors of a comprehensive exercise program. While many are misled into thinking toxic drugs are the answer to combat decreasing bone density, the truth is that weight-bearing exercise is one of the most effective remedies against osteoporosis—another common problem related to aging.
Without question, osteoporosis drugs are likely to cause more long-term harm than benefit. Studies have actually linked bisphosphonate bone-strengthening drugs like Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva and Reclast to an increased risk of femur fractures. One of the latest and largest studies to date discovered that women who've been on bisphosphonates for more than five years have a nearly three times higher risk of these dangerous fractures…
Your bones are actually very porous and soft, and as you get older, your bones can easily become less dense and hence, more brittle—especially if you are inactive.
Resistance training can combat this effect because as you put more tension on your muscles it puts more pressure on your bones, which then respond by continuously creating fresh, new bone. In addition, muscle is heavier than fat, so as you build more muscle, and make the muscle that you already have stronger, you also put more constant pressure on your bones which automatically helps maintain bone strength.
The Many Health Benefits of Exercise
There's an overwhelming amount of evidence confirming that exercise is a key player in disease reduction, optimal mental, emotional and physical health, and longevity. After reviewing 40 papers published between 2006 and 2010, researchers found that exercise reduces the risk of about two dozen health conditions, ranging from cancer and heart disease to type 2 diabetes, stroke, dementia and depression. Exercise also slows down the rate of aging itself, providing perhaps the closest example of a real life fountain of youth as we will ever find.
Ideally, you will have made exercise a regular part of your life long before you reach your "golden" years … but if you haven't, there's no better time to start than the present. Research has shown that regular exercise, even initiated late in life, offers profound health benefits. For instance:
Even a small amount of exercise may protect the elderly from long-term memory loss and even help reverse some of the effects of aging.
Moderate exercise among those aged 55-75 may cut the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which increases heart disease and diabetes risk.
Among those who started exercising at age 50 and continued for 10 years, the rate of premature death declined dramatically, similar to giving up smoking and mirroring the level as seen among people who had been working out their entire lives.
Remember, It's NEVER Too Late to Improve Your Health
It should be obvious by now that optimal health is dependent on an active lifestyle; eating fresh, whole foods, avoiding as many processed foods as possible, and addressing the stress in your life. Ignoring any of these basic tenets of health will eventually lead to a decline in health and any number of diseases.
Physical exercise is particularly important to maintain a high quality of life, as limited mobility can take a great toll… So start moving, and don't stop no matter what your age!
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